Paul evidently thought he was exorcising some kind of evil spirit, but this must have been all in his mind. What he was actually doing, the bishop surmised, was depriving the slave girl of “her gift of spiritual awareness.” Paul is filled with prejudice, she thinks, and so does something sinister by refusing to recognize... Continue Reading

The number of churches that were dismissed from Presbyterian Church (USA) last year has increased by fivefold compared to 2011, says a recently released report. According to statistics released Thursday by the Office of the General Assembly for PC(USA), 110 congregations were granted dismissal in 2012 in order to join other denominations; in 2011, the... Continue Reading

It is time for serious Reformed people to step up and demand that whatever concerns people may have about two kingdoms theology, they raise them in a responsible way. If you want to criticize someone, I was always taught, you have to earn the right by showing that you actually understand their views, summarizing those... Continue Reading

Southern Baptists owe Dr. Frank Page a debt of gratitude. Some questioned the wisdom of creating the Calvinism Advisory Committee last year, citing numerous reasons why such an effort was doomed to fail and perhaps even make things worse. It did not fail, unless success is defined only in terms of some utopian ideal of... Continue Reading

Erwin, who holds a doctorate, bachelor’s and two master’s degrees from Yale University, has spent several years teaching university and seminary classes. He currently serves as a pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Canoga Park, Calif., and a professor of Lutheran confessional theology at California Lutheran University. Part Osage Indian, Erwin is also the first... Continue Reading

“We must stand together in rejecting any form of hyper-Calvinism that denies the mandate to present the offer of the Gospel to all sinners or that denies the necessity of a human response to the Gospel that involves the human will. Similarly, we must reject any form of Arminianism that elevates the human will above... Continue Reading

With the legalization of same-sex marriage in Minnesota, the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area (PTCA) issued a reminder to churches that civil action by the legislature does not affect the Book of Order, which governs the Presbyterian Church (USA). … Even though states have legalized gay marriage, the PCUSA constitution still prohibits clergy from... Continue Reading

Today the church stands at a crossroads where it is likely to go one of two ways—it can pursue a broad and pragmatic evangelicalism or a self-consciously Reformed identity. The former is perhaps the path of less resistance, but the contemporary identity crisis of American evangelicalism today suggests that this is not the best choice.... Continue Reading

Mahaney took a leave of absence in 2011 after other pastors in the Sovereign Grace network charged him with “expressions of pride, unentreatability, deceit, sinful judgment and hypocrisy.” Six months later, the group reinstated Mahaney, declaring full confidence in him. Last October, the same month that the lawsuit was filed, Mahaney told the Sovereign Grace... Continue Reading

And that is ultimately the saddest aspect of the Andy Stanleys of this world. It is not their patronizing attitude to others. It is not their arrogant assumption that they represent the culture or that they have the right to tell the rest of us how we should think…Rather, it is the fact that what... Continue Reading